


Slytherin

by cyrene



Series: Long Live [6]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Hogwarts House Sorting Ceremony, POV Regulus Black, Regulus Black Deserves Better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:15:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27925867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyrene/pseuds/cyrene
Summary: Regulus Black's first day at Hogwarts.
Relationships: Regulus Black & Sirius Black
Series: Long Live [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2026196
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Slytherin

**Author's Note:**

> This technically takes place before Christmas, 1974; I just got so excited about posting that one because everyone's winter holiday fics are getting me in the spirit of the season.

“This is going to be the best year ever, Regs!” Sirius was practically bouncing with excitement.

Regulus was more sedate, walking with his trunk to the hidden platform where, for the first time, he would board the train to Hogwarts with his elder brother. He was feeling impossibly nervous, especially since, when he’d turned around to see Mother one last time, she’d already been gone. Especially since, when Sirius saw that, he whooped, pumping his fist in the air, and began unbuttoning his linen shirt and stuffing it into his bag.

Underneath, to Regulus’s complete surprise, he wore a Muggle T-shirt. Powder blue, with a man’s heavily made-up face on it, and the words “Ziggy Stardust” in bold orange lettering.

He felt that, perhaps, he did not know his older brother so well as he once thought he did.

Still, he followed Sirius through the train, where it seemed like everyone knew him, even the kids so old they looked like adults already. Everyone wanted to stop Sirius, ask how his summer had gone, and coo over Regulus. It was almost as bad as being at one of Mother and Father’s parties.

Except that Sirius took great pride in introducing Regulus to every single person who did this, throwing his arm around Regulus’s shoulder and squeezing him tight, like that was a thing people did. Were brothers _supposed_ to hug like that? And what, exactly, had Regulus done to make Sirius so proud of him? He had thought for sure he’d be treated like a nuisance and left to fend for himself. But Sirius led him all the way to the car in the back, where his friends were waiting for him.

They cheered when Sirius opened the compartment door. They _cheered_.

They all hugged Sirius, and it devolved into a sort of cuddle pile on the floor of the train while Regulus stood awkwardly in the doorway. He could recognize, from Sirius’s stories, that James was the dark skinned boy with the glasses, and Peter the short blond one, so that meant the third must be... the mysterious Moony.

“All right, _all right_ , gents,” Moony said from the floor where he was trying to untangle himself from the others, “we’re all happy to see each other, now can we have a little decorum? I think you’re scaring the halfling.”

Four heads turned at once to Regulus, as the boys sorted their limbs out.

“You’re going for Gryffindor, right?”

Sirius rolled his eyes and cuffed James on the back of the head. “Let him go where he wants, James. Regs is primo Puff material, or maybe even Ravenclaw. And maybe introduce yourself first, before you go recruiting.”

“I know he has to be James Potter,” Regulus finally piped up. James grinned and fluffed his unnaturally messy hair. “Which makes him Peter Pettigrew, and him Moony.”

“Moony!” James, Peter, and Moony all exclaimed, turning to Sirius, whose face was somehow still flushed from the exertions.

“It’s not because – it’s – it’s because of my mother, okay?” Sirius hung his head. “I didn’t want her finding out about your mum being Muggle and getting in a strop. But I couldn’t leave you out when I was telling Marauder stuff to Regs. So I panicked, I guess, and split the difference?”

“That name is not sticking,” Moony said sternly.

“Oh,” Peter guffawed, “but it totally is.”

“I don’t even know your real name,” Regulus pointed out.

“It’s Moony!” said Peter.

“Professor!” called Sirius.

“It’s R.J.!” piped up James.

“It’s Remus,” said Remus with a withering glare at his friends. “And it’s very nice to finally meet you, Regulus.”

The rest of the train ride was spent in relative ease, after the four boys settled down a bit. They pooled their resources for food from the trolley and shared their homemade treats. Regulus and Sirius didn’t have any of those, but he figured it was okay, because they had money and Remus didn’t. They told Regulus all about the castle as they stuffed their faces, and bragged that they knew all its secrets.

“When you’re sorted, after you get settled in, you can just come on up to our room,” Sirius said with a big smile. “We’ll show you all the cool stuff.”

Cool stuff? Sirius was talking like one of them now, the indefinable _them_ that made Mother scowl and Father grimace with displeasure.

Regulus was quiet most of the way, but there was no silence to fill. These boys were a close-knit group, full of their own inside jokes and secrets and rhythms, and Regulus just... had an in? Just like that? It seemed impossible, to him, that he might be a missing piece in this equation. But when he made a joke, they punched him lightly on the arm and laughed.

He felt like he was getting to know his brother for the first time.

Regulus knew that Sirius was caustically witty, but not that he knew all the words to Muggle songs. They had been teasing James about his crush on a red-haired girl named Evans, and Sirius belted out, “Oh, yeah, I’ll tell you something, I think you’ll understand, when I say that’s something. I wanna hold your hand! I wanna hold your ha-a-and!” and Regulus couldn’t help but giggle because he looked so funny.

The train ride was over too soon, and they had to part ways. The first years rode across the lake on boats, watching the sun set as they drew closer to the castle. Sirius had given him a hug before they parted and said, “See you soon, little bro. Knock ’em dead.”

With a name like Black, Regulus didn’t have long to be anxious about the alphabetic sorting ceremony. He walked up to the stool at the front of the hall the same way he might walk into Father’s office when in trouble: small, quick, quiet steps.

“Please, please, please, put me in Gryffindor,” he thought as hard as he could as the hat was lowered onto his head.

“Gryffindor?” a voice replied. “No, no, dear boy, you’re a Hufflepuff through and through.”

“I can’t – I can’t do this without Sirius,” Regulus panicked. “Please, if you can’t put me in Gryffindor, then let it be Slytherin.”

“That’s... not a very good fit,” the hat hedged. “Are you sure I can’t persuade you to Hufflepuff?”

“Not on your life,” Regulus thought bitterly. “Slytherin or bust.”

“Better be SLYTHERIN, then!” the hat called out. It was lifted off Regulus’s head and Regulus blinked in the light a little.

He only glanced over at the Gryffindor table for a moment, just long enough to see Sirius’s stunned face, before he shuffled over to his new house’s table, where they were already cheering for him and offering him a seat.


End file.
